The light vanished, and the bow that revealed itself once more was covered in beautiful patterns.
The way the bow settled onto the floor was like a work of art from the Renaissance.
“Wow…”
The bow had changed enough to make Hannah exclaim in admiration.
“Can I touch it?”
“It was yours to begin with. Use it as much as you like.”
Hannah carefully picked up the bow and ran her hand along its stave.
She stared at the bow as if it were dazzling and said to me,
“There’s a faint light flowing through the bow.”
Though ornate patterns were engraved on it, I couldn’t see the light Hannah spoke of.
It was a light only Hannah could see, and that meant the bow was an artifact that would save her.
Now, it seemed certain that it had become an artifact that would help Hannah.
After stroking the bow for quite some time, Hannah asked me,
“How do I use it?”
Even the things Hannah asked were different from other people.
Instead of asking what had changed, she asked straight away how to use it.
[Fit an arrow to it, then push energy into it. You will understand then.]
I relayed Soph’s weary words exactly as they were.
To be honest, I was just as exhausted.
Enchanting an artifact without any equipment, just as Soph had said, was no easy task.
The energy I had gone to such trouble to fill was scraping the bottom, and Soph had even drawn on more than half of the black stone.
If it had taken any longer, both of us would surely have collapsed.
After hearing what I relayed, Hannah took an arrow from her quiver and nocked it to the bow.
She drew the bow with all her might, then pushed energy into it.
Wooooong.
I could see energy flowing into the bow.
“Ah!”
Hannah let out a small exclamation.
When she looked at me, I relayed exactly what Soph had told me.
“He says the magic circle engraved on the bow is one that can use energy-control magic.”
Seeing her tilt her head, I continued relaying Soph’s words.
“Since it’s being activated through an artifact, there’s a lot of waste, and it has the drawback that it can only be applied to arrows, but since it can control temperature, it should be useful… Do I have to explain all of this?”
At my words, Hannah’s eyes went round.
I sighed and waved my hand.
“No, you don’t need to worry about that. Anyway, he says you should be able to control the magic’s temperature now… Is that right?”
“Yes!”
Hannah nodded quickly.
I continued my explanation.
“He says if you choose a temperature, the temperature magic you chose will be applied to the arrow.”
Along with my explanation, ice began to form on the arrow.
Watching the arrow freeze over, I tried to finish explaining.
“If you shoot that arrow…”
Paat!
Before I could finish, the arrow was fired.
Thud!
The ice arrow embedded itself in the wall, and ice spread across it.
In an instant, the area around the arrow froze completely.
“So it wasn’t just freezing the arrow.”
[What use would there be in freezing only the arrow? As if I would ever create such a foolish magic circle!]
Seeing Soph get angry, it seemed there had once been a mage who had made such a foolish magic circle.
Surely it hadn’t been Soph?
Paat! Paat!
While I continued my banter with Soph, Hannah kept firing arrows.
After an ice arrow, a fire arrow flew out and burned the wall, followed by a red-hot arrow that melted the cave wall.
Fwoosh! Thunk! Kwaang!
Every time an arrow struck, the cave wall was destroyed in all sorts of ways.
Watching Hannah create a variety of arrows, Soph spoke in a voice tinged with admiration.
[You are the same, but Earthlings are quite skilled at utilizing magic. I cannot tell whether you are cunning or simply imaginative.]
I felt like I knew the reason.
Novels, movies, comics, animation, the internet, games, and more.
For modern people, who had constantly absorbed information from countless forms of media, making use of magic wasn’t difficult.
Hannah, who had been excitedly firing arrows like that, stopped shooting the bow.
“Hah. Hah. Hah. I’m out of arrows.”
Just as she said, it was because she had used up all the arrows she had.
Instead of immediately taking arrows out of the box for her, I said,
“You’re almost out of energy, aren’t you? Stop there.”
Hannah’s breathing had grown rough, and fatigue was plain on her face.
It was the typical look of someone on the verge of energy depletion.
At my words, Hannah came to her senses.
“Ah! Yes…”
Hannah’s face flushed red as she lowered the arrow.
“It consumes a lot of energy.”
[Of course it does. There is no way using magic through an artifact would not be wasteful.]
It was a shame that the energy consumption seemed heavier than expected, but Hannah was different.
She was grateful that Soph had placed magic on the bow.
“Thank you. I’ll treasure it and use it well.”
Hugging the bow, she bowed her head toward the spear I was holding.
There was nothing more to hide. I told Hannah about Soph.
When I told her he was an old mage sealed inside a staff, Hannah was surprised once again, and she bowed her head toward the spear one more time.
[Ahem. What a charming young girl.]
Soph cleared his throat and accepted Hannah’s greeting.
This time, too, Hannah did not doubt my words in the slightest.
Well, since the light was showing her the truth, she had no reason to doubt.
However, I was a little worried about what would happen someday, when that light and what she had to do no longer aligned.
***
After taking arrows out for Hannah, I packed up our luggage again.
I lifted the luggage that Magreta and I had carried together all by myself.
After that, I went up onto the altar with Hannah and spatially transferred to the terraforming ruins.
A bright light covered the world, then immediately disappeared.
It was so brief that there wasn’t even time to see the energy path.
After the light vanished, we were underground in the terraforming ruins.
Before my eyes, I saw a glass dome—a greenhouse.
As expected, it was similar to the greenhouse I had seen in the underground city.
There were two differences.
One was the pond made from groundwater occupying the center of the greenhouse, and the other was the grain and vegetables filling it.
The plants in this greenhouse had already finished growing and were ready to be harvested.
‘With these crops, the supplies we brought, and the monsters we’ve hunted so far, we won’t have to worry about food.’
Once the Koreans who came after this were added, food would run short again, but that could be solved through hunting.
I handed the supplies over to the people underground.
The people looked astonished at the enormous amount of supplies I gave them.
After placing the supplies we would use separately into a box, I headed to the surface.
The underground had been that way too, but the stairs and corridors were also extremely noisy.
It might have been noisy because over a hundred Americans had arrived, but that wasn’t all.
Koreans were gathered here and there in the corridors, whispering among themselves.
It wasn’t just the corridors.
There were no Koreans working in the lobby either.
Unlike the Americans, who were moving around in groups and looking around the ruins, the Koreans were gathered in corners, talking with grave expressions.
I infused energy into my ears and eavesdropped on their conversation.
“Is it true? The war is over?”
“Those Americans told us. They said China and America reached an agreement.”
“Isn’t it just a ceasefire?”
“They said it isn’t. They said the war is over.”
“Really? Then are we going back?”
It was a short exchange, but I could tell why things were so noisy.
News of the end of the war had finally reached this planet as well.
In truth, it was something I had expected.
It wasn’t as if their mouths had been sealed by magic like with “Earth’s destruction,” and with this many people having crossed over, there was no way the secret would stay hidden.
While I stood at the entrance listening to people talk, they also recognized me.
The people who had been talking about the end of the war turned their gazes toward me.
“Look, it’s the box carrier. We have to ask him too, don’t we?”
“There were rumors. When he kept disappearing, people said he might have gone to Earth and come back.”
“Even if that’s not it, he might know something.”
Hearing them whisper, I couldn’t help clicking my tongue.
‘So the Koreans were misunderstanding me. No, is it even a misunderstanding?’
They saw me more unfavorably than I had expected.
Well, it was inevitable.
All this time, I had been with the exploration team or the Americans, and I hadn’t been able to pay attention to the Koreans.
Since I barely spoke to them and disappeared every time, they had no choice but to find it strange.
‘Do I look like a turncoat clinging to the Americans and currying favor with them?’
A small laugh escaped me.
It didn’t really matter even if they saw me that way.
In truth, what the Koreans thought held no meaning for me.
Even without them, I had plenty to think about.
The exploration team and my family, Soph and the monsters, the underground city and the ruins, Earth and Paradise.
It was difficult to even take the follow-up team into consideration.
However, they didn’t know what I was thinking.
Some of them tried to approach me.
I couldn’t swing my weapon at them, and it seemed like it would become more troublesome than I expected.
“You’ve arrived, sir?”
“Good work.”
Fortunately, there were people who approached me before they did.
Tom and Sergeant Woo.
They were members of the exploration team.
As they spoke to me, they placed their hands on their weapons.
Holding a spear and a sword in their hands, they looked around.
Hannah drew her bow as she had before.
Even though she should have had almost no energy left, she didn’t care.
The people who had been about to approach stopped, and the others also began watching the situation.
The Americans were watching the scene with faces full of interest.
As I was wondering how to end this, I heard David’s voice.
“What is going on here?”
David was walking out from the corridor.
Seeing him come out with the others, it seemed the meeting had ended.
The people who emerged into the lobby with him were Catherine, Sterling, and Magreta.
When they all looked at me, I raised my hand and pointed to the Korean follow-up team.
Seeing the Koreans standing there awkwardly, David let out a sigh.
It seemed he had immediately understood what was going on.
“I suppose I should explain this first. Everyone in the follow-up team, gather here. I’ll explain.”
At his words, all the gazes that had been focused on me turned to him.
The follow-up team members immediately gathered.
The people who had been in the corridors also ran into the lobby, and those who had been in the underground greenhouse came up as well.
Seeing that everyone had gathered, David began an explanation that sounded like a speech.
“As you have heard, the war is over.”
When team member Huiwon translated those words, the people began murmuring again.
David raised his hand and continued speaking.
“You may have heard already, but the main forces are continuing to cross over to this planet. Once the Korean main force arrives, we intend to reassign the existing follow-up team.
If you wish to remain at the base, you will be assigned to the base, and those who wish to return to Earth will be able to go to Earth in order.”
At David’s words, the follow-up team members’ eyes sparkled, but I clicked my tongue inwardly.
His words were not a lie, but they were not the full truth either.
In order, he said.
If they went like that, there was no telling whether it would take weeks or months.
To the people who had gone quiet after hearing him, David said,
“However, even if you go to Earth, it will be difficult for you to go home. As you know, what happened on this planet must remain a secret. Once you go to Earth, your pay will stop as well. Think carefully.”
Just as he said, the follow-up team members began to think it over.
Along with small whispers, the lobby fell quiet.
Among them, there was someone looking at me.
It was Catherine.
It seemed she had something she wanted to say to me.
But before that, I had to answer the team members’ questions.
“What’s with that bow? It’s changed!”
The team members had noticed Hannah’s bow. The male team members gathered around Hannah, and Magreta rushed at me.
I said to Magreta,
“I’ll do yours too, Magi, so wait.”
“You mean it?”
At my words, Magreta’s eyes sparkled, and Tom and Sergeant Woo also looked at me.
Tom, who had been looking at me, gazed down at the spear in his hand with a gloomy expression.
“Will an ordinary spear work too?”
Sergeant Woo looked down at the sword in his hand.
“I’d be grateful if you did it for any weapon at all.”
Hearing the two of them, I shook my head.
I was thinking of giving those two something else.
“You don’t need to worry. I have separate weapons to give the two of you.”
Inside the box buried in the underground ruins, there were weapons far better than enhancing a spear.
They were weapons I had brought from Earth.
The Main Force Deploys (1)